E-mail is 40 years old this year (here’s a nice infographic showing its history). Many people still grapple with it, but that doesn’t have to be the case. So we’re sharing our e-mail productivity ideas here.

Listen to the podcast episode here:

Download the MP3 File here.

Subscribe to future episodes here.

Dan Tynen (7 Days in Email Hell) needs our help!

Incoming e-mail is not necessarily a bad thing! The problem is not with e-mail, it’s with the kind of e-mail you get, the way we perceive e-mail, and the way we manage e-mail.

Here are our three key e-mail productivity principles:

1. Your in-box represents other people’s priorities, not yours – So stop being their slave, and take control of your life
2. E-mail is for deferred, not immediate, communication – So stop reacting and start responding
3. E-mail is just one communication channel (of many) – So just stop using e-mail for everything

Start by eliminating the bad e-mail:

• Unnecessary (e.g. E-zines we never read, Facebook notifications): Cancel the subscriptions, turn off notifications
• Unwanted (Spam): Delete them automatically
• Inappropriate/Misdirected (E-mail that can be handled by other channels – such as RSS, phone, face-to-face): Switch channels
• Unproductive (Jokes and time-wasters, chain letters, staff checking in because you haven’t delegated well, irrelevant cc’s): Ask them to stop
• Unimportant (e.g. useful e-zines, some notifications): Filter them automatically

Learn to process e-mail more effectively:

• Separate checking from processing
• Check e-mail less frequently
• Turn off automatic notifications of new mail
• When checking your in-box, just move items to other folders rather than processing anything
• After processing, ask yourself: How can I prevent another e-mail like this?

Help other people be more productive by sending better e-mail:

• Use a relevant subject line
• Use a signature with phone number and other contact info
• Write one topic per message (split multi-topic messages into multiple e-mails)
• Don’t ask obvious questions that Google could answer (e.g. checking time zones)
• Spell check & re-read before hitting send
• Don’t send “out of context” messages that force others to search old e-mails for information
• Quote sparingly; enough to provide context but no more
• Establish some conventions and shorthand within your team
• Think carefully about each and every recipient you include in the To: & Cc: lines
• End each e-mail with a clear idea of what you want next

A wiki is a Web site anybody can edit. Although this might sound dangerous, wikis have many benefits for organisations large and small. They are more collaborative, more compact and more changeable than typical Web sites, blogs or forums; and they can build camaraderie, engagement, unity and equity in the organisation.

In this podcast episode, we talk about the benefits of wikis and how to create one for your own organisation.

Listen here:

Download the MP3 file here

Resources:

• Mediawiki: The free wiki software that powers Wikipedia
• WikkaWiki: used by Chris’ employer
• Wikihosts.org: Free hosted wikis (ad-supported)
• Wikispaces.com: Free and low-cost hosted wikis (i.e. nothing to install)
• Clearwiki.com: Free and low-cost private hosted wikis (what Gihan uses for First Step)
• Wikimatrix.org: Compare them all!